Chinese ownership of Liverpool would return the club to its former position of primacy in the transfer market, a representative of Kenny Huang's QSL consortium announced today.

Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports executive who has struck previous deals for Huang's QSL vehicle and is his long-term associate, acted as spokesman for the Chinese consortium today. He confirmed that an outline takeover proposal had been submitted to Barcap, the investment-banking division of Barclays, and the Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton, who together are overseeing the sale of the club.

If the bid is successful, Ganis assured Liverpool fans that wage and transfer budgets under QSL would allow the five-times European champions to compete on equal terms with Manchester City, Real Madrid and Internazionale.

"Liverpool is and always should be one of the highest-spending clubs in all of football," he said. "And our financial models presume Liverpool will be at or near the top in spending on players every year."

That will be of great comfort to Liverpool fans who have grown frustrated at the payment of up to £43m a year in interest over the three years since Tom Hicks and George Gillett's highly leveraged takeover. In the 12 months to 31 July 2009, those payments meant Liverpool's wage bill was severely restricted – equivalent to only 83.5% of Manchester United's last year and 61.5% of Chelsea's.

The Chinese group have also promised to invest in infrastructure, one of the key demands that must be satisfied for a sale to be approved. Although the board want to complete the deal before the close of the transfer window on 31 August, they are also anxious that the transaction should secure a legacy for the club. The successful bidder must clear the £350m-plus debt and demonstrate they have the means to build a new stadium.

Ganis is therefore aware of the need to appease those directors who are acting not in search of personal profit but as custodians of the club, and his statement today was loaded with messages for the board and shareholders.

About Gillett and Hicks's hopes of raising up to £800m through the sale, Ganis was dismissive. "What is not one of our goals is the enrichment of the existing owners," Ganis said. "If we submit a proposal and it is accepted, it would be focused on the future and not the past. If anybody wants to [pay for Hicks and Gillett's shares], good luck. We know what we would be prepared to do. If somebody else wants to look at it in a different way, it's their money. That would be their business, not ours."

That was a reference to the proposal fronted by Yahya Kirdi, which would offer staggering returns for the shareholders' equity. Unsurprisingly, Kirdi's is the consortium Hicks and Gillett have been enthusiastically promoting. However, at a time when no other bidder has offered anything for the equity, Kirdi's proposal promises such outlandish sums for Hicks and Gillett that sources inside the sale process believe his consortium lacks any credibility.

There is a limit to what Hicks and Gillett can do. The strictures of their most recent refinancing of the £237m loan from Royal Bank of Scotland ensure that any takeover approved by the board must go ahead irrespective of the Americans' votes as shareholder-directors. That means Broughton, Ian Ayre and Christian Purslow hold the destiny of Liverpool in their hands, since they are capable of outvoting the two Americans. Seemingly with that in mind, there was a deliberate sweetener for Ayre and Purslow from Huang.

"From what we have seen from afar, many of the people currently running Liverpool are doing a good job," said Ganis. "There shouldn't be an expectation there would be a mass upheaval if we submit and are approved."

QSL's Chinese bid remains favourite ahead of Kirdi, Kuwait's Kharafi Group and Rhone Capital but it is only first among equals. The absence of any formal approach with sufficient financial muscle to meet the various requirements of the sale means no bidder can be certain of taking control.